Chapter 3
In Providence, Adam McCarthy had been up all night as he tried to think about anything other than the appointment that loomed over them like a dark cloud.
Something wasn’t right. Abby was almost to the end of her first trimester, but she looked much further along.
From the outset of her high-risk pregnancy, David and Victoria at the Gansett Island clinic had advised them to seek out a specialist on the mainland to be doubly sure everything was okay.
They’d made an appointment at Women & Infants Hospital, waited weeks for the date to arrive, and in the next hour or two, they’d know more. Except he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
If something was wrong…
His heart broke at the thought of that. Abby had been through so much before they’d found each other, and even since then, being diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome and told she might never conceive.
They’d adopted their son, Liam, last winter, but Abby’s pregnancy had been a complete shock to both of them.
Their baby was a miracle, and he was determined to do whatever it took to make sure she and the baby were all right. Even if that meant moving to Providence for the duration of her pregnancy. They’d do it if they had to.
They’d hired a young woman named Candice to help run Abby’s Attic at the Surf this summer. Candice had been a godsend so far, and if they had to rely on her to finish out the season at the store, so be it. Whatever it took to get Abby and the baby successfully through this pregnancy.
A chirp from the portable crib let Adam know eight-month-old Liam was awake. He went to retrieve him and found that Abby already had him up and was changing his diaper.
“I can do that if you want to sleep for a little while longer,” Adam said.
“I didn’t sleep at all, so I’m glad to have something to do.”
“I didn’t sleep either.”
They worked together to get Liam washed up, dressed and fed.
“How about some breakfast?” Adam asked.
“I don’t think I could eat. Maybe after the appointment. But you go ahead.”
“I sort of feel the same way.”
They put Liam on the floor in the living room to play with toys while they killed the last hour before it was time to go.
At the hospital, they were taken directly to the ultrasound department for the first of several appointments and tests that would be conducted before they saw the specialist.
Adam held Liam as the ultrasound technician moved the wand over Abby’s protruding abdomen. He watched the screen but couldn’t make heads or tails out of what he was seeing.
The technician moved the wand around, clicking something on the computer.
Each click was like a shot to his nerves.
What did it all mean? He took comfort in the very strong sound of the baby’s heartbeat.
After Mac and Maddie had lost their son Connor in utero, Adam had feared the same silence that had confronted his brother and sister-in-law at a routine ultrasound appointment.
“Excuse me for one minute,” the tech said as she left the room.
“What’s happening?” Abby asked, her brown eyes gone wide with fright.
“I’m sure it’s nothing. You heard the heartbeat. That’s what matters.” He said what she needed to hear even as he tried to hide his own panic. He’d seen enough movies and videos to know that nothing good ever came of the tech leaving the room.
The tech returned five excruciating minutes later with another woman, who introduced herself as a doctor of radiology.
Adam didn’t catch her name and didn’t care what it was.
They started the entire process again from the beginning, as Adam and Abby were forced to wait in agonizing silence for someone to tell them what was going on.
Finally, the doctor looked up at them with an odd expression on her face. “Did you undergo fertility treatment?”
“No,” Abby said. “Why?”
“Has anyone mentioned the possibility of multiples to you?”
“M-multiples?” Abby asked, gazing frantically at the doctor and then at Adam.
The doctor pointed to the screen. “We’re detecting four heartbeats.”
Adam’s knees wanted to buckle under him. “Four?”
Still gesturing toward the screen, the doctor counted. “One, two, three, four.”
Now that she pointed to each of them, he could see them. Four. Four babies. Quadruplets.
“I have PCOS. They…” Abby choked on a sob. “They said I couldn’t have babies, and we… This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Well,” the doctor said with a cheerful smile, “there’s no question you’re carrying four babies, which is why you’re showing so early.
Sometimes people with PCOS will suddenly drop a bunch of mature eggs.
So it can happen. We’ll get the ultrasound to your OB so you can figure out a plan going forward.
Congratulations, Mom and Dad—times four. ”
The doctor and tech stepped out of the room, leaving the stunned parents alone.
“Adam,” Abby said, gasping. “What did she just say?”
Adam was still trying to process the news himself but forced himself to rally for her sake. “It seems we’re expecting quadruplets.”
“H-how is that possible? They said we couldn’t.”
“I know, sweetheart.” Still holding Liam, he leaned in to kiss the tears off her face. “It’s a miracle.”
“No, Adam, it’s not a miracle! Four babies! What will we do? How will we—”
He kissed her until she stopped talking. “We’ll figure it out the same way we have everything else. Now let’s get you up and dressed and off to the next appointment so we can ask all our questions.”
“I can’t remember my own name right now. How am I supposed to ask questions?”
“Your name is Abigail Callahan McCarthy, and you’re the strongest person I know. Whatever they tell us, we’ll handle it. I don’t want you to worry about anything.” He helped her sit up and steadied her when she seemed like she might topple right off the exam table.
“I can’t be pregnant with four babies. That doesn’t just happen.”
He smiled at the adorably confused expression on her face. “Apparently, it does.”
“You’re not allowed to find this in any way amusing, do you hear me?”
“I hear you, but I just want you to remember there’re a lot of really awful things we could’ve heard today. This doesn’t really count as awful.”
“Spoken by the one who doesn’t have to turn into a beached whale while having four babies!”
He couldn’t help it. He laughed.
She punched him in the gut, making him gasp from the surprisingly hard hit.
“Ow.”
“Do not laugh, Adam McCarthy, or I swear to God I might actually stab you for doing this to me.”
“How is this my fault? I thought I was your hero for getting you pregnant in the first place when they told us that couldn’t happen.”
“You were my hero until I found out you’re firing some sort of super sperm.”
Adam’s smile turned smug. “My boys are rather super.”
“Still not funny.”
“It’s a little funny. Come on, you have to admit it.”
“I have to do no such thing, and if you’re wise, you’ll keep your laughter to yourself.
I don’t think it’s funny at all.” She broke down again, her entire body shaking with the force of her emotions.
“What is wrong with me? All I wanted was to be pregnant, and now I’m freaking out because it’s not happening the way I thought it would. ”
Adam had to bite his lip not to laugh again. He sat next to her on the exam table and put his arm around her. “You’re freaking out because we just got the most unexpected news we could’ve gotten. But we have to be thankful it was an overabundance of good news and not tragic news.”
She nodded and wiped her face. “I know. It’s just going to take me a minute to wrap my head around it.”
“Me, too, sweetheart.”
“We’re going to have five babies, Adam.”
“Yes, I heard about that.”
“Five babies under the age of two, Adam.”
“I got that memo.”
She elbowed him in the ribs. “You still think this is funny.”
“I figure it’s better to laugh than cry.”
“How are we going to do this?” she asked in a frantic tone.
He took her hand and held on tightly. “We’re going to meet with the OB and find out what we need to do to keep you and the football team healthy.
Then we’ll figure out a birth plan that has you right here when you have them, and we’ll recruit grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends to help us survive the first couple of months, and we’ll make it work. Somehow.”
“You’re so rational. How can you be rational at a time like this?”
“One of us has to be.”
She elbowed him again. “I can hear you laughing.”
“I’m not laughing. Not much, anyway.” He brought her closer to him and nuzzled her hair. “It’s really your fault, you know.”
“I can’t wait to hear how it’s my fault.”
“You prayed so hard for a baby that you got four of them.”
“I see what you’re trying to do, and it’s not going to work. It’s one hundred percent your fault. Clearly, something is going on with you McCarthy boys knocking up your wives with multiples.”
Adam puffed out his chest and received another elbow to the gut that promptly deflated him.
“Let’s get moving to the OB appointment so they can tell me how in the hell I’m supposed to carry four babies.”
Adam got up and used his free hand to help her down from the table. When she wobbled, he put his arm around her until she was steady. “Just hold on to me, sweet girl. I’ve got you.”
“It’s a very good thing I love you so much.”
“It’s a very good thing indeed.”